Trumpeter Swan, Cygnus buccinator

Trumpeter Swan is on the official State Checklist on the basis of historical records (see below). This species is the subject of reintroduction efforts in the eastern United States, and recent sightings of this species in the southeastern United States are believed be of reintroduced birds.

Although Trumpeter Swan was reported by Oberholser
(1938) as “perhaps a fairly common winter resident,” at
the time he wrote this species account, Trumpeter Swan
no longer occurred in the state. In fact, Oberholser lists
only three “tangible” records. Two of these are attributed
to Stanley C. Arthur: one photographed by him on 7
January 1915, and one shot by a hunter in November
1914 and confirmed by him as that species. In his book,
Lowery (1974) states that Trumpeter Swan’s place on the
state list is “rather insubstantial,” and he also casts doubt
about Arthur’s documentation, noting in particular
inconsistency of the photograph’s date. During the
LBRC’s “Lowery Review,” the species was nonetheless
“grandfathered” onto the state list and, apparently, no
further attempts were made to locate and review Arthur’s
photo. At this meeting, Members agreed that the status
of Trumpeter Swan needs to be resolved and some
recalled seeing a published photograph. Following the
meeting, Paul Conover located the Arthur photo in the
Bent’s Life Histories series. The LBRC will
review the photo record in the near future.

Accepted Records

Unaccepted Records

One (1989-32; formerly 90-32) on 28-29 Dec. 1989 and 1 Jan. 1990, Vermilion: 5 mi. east of Pecan Island. The description
was very brief and the identification was based primarily on vocalizations. The observer admitted to
having some doubt about the identification, and had no previous experience with the range of variation
of vocalizations of this species or Tundra Swan (Cygnus columbianus). Tundra Swan was not adequately
eliminated from consideration.